If the new range of flow estimates proves correct, and if BP is ultimately found guilty of gross negligence in its actions leading to the disaster, the company could be assessed fines of up to $258 million a day.
The spill started on 4/22/2010, and it is now 6/15/2010. Even if BP ended the leak this very moment, it will have gone on for 54 days.
At $258 million per day, that’s ~$14 billion.
And that’s on top of their payments to Gulf Coast businesses. To my mind, this is one area where BP simply cannot skimp - better to be in the red this year than to endure the PR nightmare that will ensue if they are stingy. But I suppose I can’t even fathom the scale of this - is $14 billion enough? Not enough?
This strikes me as one of those sentiments where a large population advocates for it and wants to reap the benefits (cheap gas!), but nobody actually wants to do themselves.
I love me the NYT.
But if they're going to put breaking athletic news that's scheduled to air later in the evening as the main item on nytimes.com, they should put spoiler warnings up so you can steer away at the last minute. And because I don't want to spoil it for you, I'll refrain from telling you what the NYT just told poor, unwitting me about what's going to happen in the world of Olympic sport tonight. But suffice to say, it's pretty big news (for Olympic-loving Americans), and I was looking forward to being surprised when I watched Vancouver's goings-on tonight - only to have my anticipatory excitement shattered.
In all fairness to the NYT, I'm sure all sorts of media outlets are doing the same thing. I just happen to hold the NYT to a particular (unrealistic) standard.
I guess this means I'm getting all news second-hand for the next week or so ("Hey sweetie, can you tell me if I can read the paper?").
But I'm going to do that anyway, because I need to conduct a test.
I've theoretically set up a robot to take anything I type in one place and then re-type it a bunch of other places so that I don't need to post my entries like seven times.
So now the whole intertubes can expect to read consistent messaging from me whenever I get around to submitting updates regarding music and the like.
“The expectation in Washington is that ‘We can kick you around, and you are still going to give us money,’ ” said a top official at a major Wall Street firm, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of alienating the White House. “We are not going to play that game anymore.”
- a top official at a major Wall Street firm, talking about Washington’s attitude toward Wall Street, apparently without any sense of irony
Last time I checked, the bailout was aimed at banks that engaged in brazenly risky behavior and then took taxpayer dollars to keep their businesses afloat. Many of them then turned those taxpayer dollars into massive executive bonuses - with the assertion that they were necessary to retain their most talented employees.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like the phrase “We can kick you around, and you are still going to give us money” has been the tone from one side of the national conversation since roughly September of 2008, but it hasn’t been Washington uttering that phrase, it’s been Gordon Gekko.
Hi all. It’s been some time since my last post (to put this in perspective, my last post was about Surrogates, which was in theaters at the time - it is now out on Blu-ray). But I have been hard at work. I’m making music for you all to enjoy.
The next record is very far along in its formation. It will have ten songs. The words are written. The drums are recorded. The bass guitar and keyboards sound great. The guitars are mostly reasonable - there are some solos and lead parts that I need to do, like, again. And the vocals are about 50% complete. I swear, this thing is moving. As proof - here are song titles (in order):
Watch your mouth
Mystery cut
You better look at me when I’m talking to you
The city smells like fire
Weather in Memphis
Weather the whether
Twenty-nine ninety-two
Impeach
Your song don’t mean a thing to me
I’m sick of New York
What’s been the hold-up, you ask? Well, I have many valid excuses that are very believable and not at all rationalizations:
My brother got married
I moved
I had to buy things
My boss was very serious and needed something
Football
The Oscar nominations came out
I was hungry
I got sick
My foot hurts
So as you can see, I am bombarded by all sorts of things that normal people don’t have to deal with. Ah, the life of an office worker posing as a musician. Sometimes it’s easy to forget why you do what you do. But I’ve had many moments of clarity over the past 2-3 months and am back in the recording saddle. I even have a potential surprise that I am very excited about but do not want to sabotage by announcing too quickly.
That’s right, I cliffhangered you.
In other news, my girl and I went to a concert a couple of weeks ago. It was a Haiti benefit concert featuring basically every band I’ve ever liked (Walkmen, Wrens, Ted Leo, A.C. Newman) and several artists that I didn’t know I liked (Here We Go Magic, Sondre Lerche, Nicole Atkins, Lauren Ambrose & the Leisure Class, Fun) but do now. And Jim Gaffigan told a series of jokes about whales (hilarious) and Jimmy Fallon recycled his Neil Young/Fresh Prince mashup (A+ for effort), and all the proceeds went to charity, so I had a delightful time.
Wrens casually and gracefully kick you in the face:
I felt like I got far more than I bargained for - it’s one thing to support an absolutely necessary cause, another to be able to see several of my favorite groups (including my favorite), but even more delightful that I was able to find a bunch of new things that I didn’t even expect to like. I’m not nearly as well-informed as I was when I was in college (and worked for a radio station and constantly lost at oneupsmanship olympiads, otherwise known as hipster parties), so finding new things is a little rarer at this point and a little sweeter too.
What about you? Any cool stuff that you just fell into or stumbled upon and found that you unexpectedly really enjoyed it?
On this most sacred of holidays (Super Bowl Eve), I hope everyone’s staying warm and out of the Snowmageddon (hilarious term - I’m angry I didn’t coin it).
Should I be weirded out regarding the creepy similarities between the Surrogates ad campaign and the new GAP “Born to Fit” ad campaign? These pictures aren’t the best representations of the similarities, but both campaigns are predicated on beautiful people in reclined positions. In one ad they are wearing jeans, in the other they are sexy, but probably dangerous (or something) cyborgs. Or maybe I’m mistaken - perhaps they are cyborgs in both.
This is likely a bit of a stretch, but walking down the street today and seeing both ads, I thought they seemed somewhat aesthetically related, albeit unintentionally.
“Think about the alternative: another crime drama, another hospital drama,” Mr. Farella said. “We like things that are different, so we can sit in front of clients and say, ‘Let me tell you what I’m doing differently this year than last year.’ ” - an advertising exec, discussing how putting Jay Leno on at 10 pm on weeknights is “different”
How does moving a guy who has been on the same late night TV show for 17 years up by one hour earn you the right to claim that you’re doing something “differently?”
That’s like me saying, “I’m re-releasing a record I’ve already made, but I’m putting the tracks in a different order, so it’s a totally different experience.”
